Still in the formative years of his career, Hercule Poirot faces a most taxing case: who killed Lord Cronshaw? Was Coco Courtenay's death on the same night a mere coincidence? And did she deliberately take an overdose of cocaine?

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Still in the formative years of his career, Hercule Poirot faces a most taxing case: who killed Lord Cronshaw? Was Coco Courtenay's death on the same night a mere coincidence? And did she deliberately take an overdose of cocaine?

No sooner has Poirot revealed his astonishing powers of deduction than he is faced with 17 other mysteries to test his soon-to-be-famous "little grey cells".

As a matter of courtesy to a group of young people, he endeavours to solve the gruesome murder of a woman whose body they have stumbled upon while locked out of their flat, and with his usual precision and elan, he discovers exactly how "Mary, Mary quite contrary" makes her garden grow.

The characters were magnificently portrayed by Fraser and Suchet, which makes it so easy to listen to. When I first started listening to audiobooks I was worried that hearing a narrator's voice would detract from experiencing the story. These two narrators (Fraser narrates most of it, Suchet is Poirot, I believe) eliminate this issue, really bringing the short stories to life, a sort of bridge between reading and watching a film (but with all the detail of the book).

The short stories are alternated between narration from David Suchet and Hugh Fraser. To be really picky, I would love them to include both, and Inspector Japp and Miss Lemon narrating their own lines, but nothing is perfect. These are great, really quick easy listens, perfect for one each on the journey to work, approx half an hour each. If you like Agatha Christie books anyway you will love these. If you've never tried anything of hers, I think I like the short stories best, a good place to start.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Carole

Caterham, United Kingdom

4/24/13

Overall

"Disappointing"

I love Agatha Christie's quirky Belgium detective so was looking forward to listening to this. Although advertised as read by Hugh Fraser & David Suchet, you will find that half of the cases are read by someone other than Hugh Fraser. And the other half are indeed read by Hugh Fraser but he also does the reading for Poirot with an excrutiatingly painful to hear Belgium/bad French accent!!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

V. Lowrey

2/23/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Nice short stories."

If you are looking to listen to short stories, this is the audiobook for you. Well read, easy listening. Good book.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Charlotte Faint

11/14/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"easy listening"

Would you consider the audio edition of Poirot's Early Cases to be better than the print version?

Cant go wrong with Agatha Christie stories and this is no exception.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Pippa

UK

10/7/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Comfort stories"

Would you listen to Poirot's Early Cases again? Why?

Yes, definitely: they are nice, short stories - all of which I have heard/read/watched before, but each is so well acted and somehow "neat" that I would be happy to listen to them again and again.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It has to be Hastings - so trusting, so naive, and so wrong all the time!

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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